The Dividends – “Rain” (Stereogum Premiere)

The Dividends – “Rain” (Stereogum Premiere)

The photo says it all. Cannabinoids member and hit-crafter S1 and songstress Sarah Jaffe have officially become the Dividends. S1 has worked with a host of huge names and is longtime go-to collaborator for Erykah Badu. Jaffe has a beautifully textured rasp fit for any enveloping sounds S1 can design. The two first collaborated on Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2 track “Bad Guy,” but now they’re set to release their own collection of songs in the form of the Far From Away Vol. 1 EP.

“Rain” is the most poppy of them all, but that is certainly not a bad thing. It’s a big anthemic slapper with some subtle scratch-work, booming drums, resonant piano, and sweeping atmospheric flourishes enveloping Jaffe’s dreamy harmonies until they rise above for the huge energy on the hook “It’s out of my hands/ I’ve fallen from grace/ I see the clouds have parted/ And it looks like rain.” That energy transforms into a piercing evocation of that sobering realization when you know things will get worse before they get better. Listen.

Far From Away Vol. 1 is out 6/24.

more from New Music